How do managers encounter fashionable management concepts? A study of balanced scorecard adopters in Scandinavia

Abstract

The adoption of management concepts has attracted much attention in organisation studies. However, there is still a lack of research on the pre–adoption phase, where managers become aware of and develop interest in management concepts and ideas. This paper explores how adopters of the balanced scorecard in Scandinavia encountered the concept. Using data from interviews with users of the concept, the paper shows that the most important contact points were consultants, the conference/seminar scene, and user networks, while the business media and educational programmes were of relatively little importance. The data support viewing the spreading of management concepts as taking place within a management fashion arena, where different suppliers and managers interact. Instead of being broadcasted from supply–side actors to passive adopters, as is suggested by traditional diffusion theories, concepts are circulated between the different actors participating in this arena.

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